Have you ever had that moment when you just hit send on a marketing email, only to realise your email contained a broken link or a typo? How embarrassing, right? These silly mistakes happen a lot easier than you think! But we have all done it at some point. We might be email marketing experts, but the odd mistake still happens! How can we prevent these from happening?
We at Flowbird live by the test send.
The platforms we use, ActiveCampaign, Pipedrive and Hubspot, allow you to send test emails before the real deal goes out, allowing opportunities for mistakes to be spotted. To avoid making these mistakes, we have compiled a list of our top seven tips to check before hitting that final send.
Broken Links
This could be your worst nightmare if you try to generate leads with your email marketing. We recommend clicking on every single link in your test send, ensuring it leads you to the correct page; make sure it loads correctly without any errors.
Missing Links
This is a common one, forgetting even to put a link where we intend behind that CTA image.
Spelling/Grammatical Errors
We use Grammarly for every piece of content that goes out. It prevents any slip-ups! Spelling errors can look unprofessional.
Distorted Images
- How do your images look?
- Are they stretched or squished?
- Pixelated?
- Overwhelmingly large?
Do you remember associating alt text with them when they don't render? Check to ensure your images are displaying how you want them to, and if not, adjust accordingly.
Formatting Errors
When you view the email in an inbox, ensure the formatting looks like you intended. If things look wonky or out of place, fix them before sending them. Things can vary between email providers, so test across multiple platforms. Gmail, Outlook, Hotmail.
Subject Line/Sender Name
If you want your emails to look like humans, not robots, send them! Are you using your company name (Flowbird) or the name of a person at your company (Jason Rainbird) as the sender? Emails sent by a real person are more likely to be opened than ones sent from a company name. The subject line is also essential; we recommend using 50 characters or less, so it doesn't get cut off!
Look at different devices.
Test the email to see for yourself! Different browsers, email clients, and devices (mobile or desktop) can display your email differently. Test the email on every option to save yourself the trouble of inadequate formatting.